1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for producing a breast prosthesis with a substantially bowl-shaped prosthesis body. the body is formed by placing at least two plastic foils one on top of the other. A pouch-like container having chambers is formed by connecting the edges of the foils. Each chamber is filed with a soft elastic material, which is subjected to vulcanization after it is placed in a molding die.
2. The Prior Art
Female breast prostheses are used to compensate or cover visually noticeable consequences of surgical interventions. The cup-like bodies of breast prostheses normally consist of soft elastic material, mainly silicone rubber. Such a material has a relatively high density, which has adverse effects on the wearing comfort of a large prosthesis (because of their weight). To reduce the weight of a breast prosthesis, lightweight fillers can be substituted into the silicone rubber compounds and then the mixture is shaped to the body of the prosthesis.
Unfortunately, the lightweight fillers change the properties of the silicone, resulting in disadvantageous effects to the breast prosthesis. For example, the hysteresis is considerably increased by the inner friction of the vulcanized compound. Furthermore, a silicone admixed with lightweight fillers has poor adherence to surrounding protective skin or foils. The foils have the function of keeping the body of the prosthesis in shape. However, such foils cannot perform this function if the lightweight fillers in the silicone rubber compound act as a release agent deteriorating the filter's adhesion to foils.
Furthermore, it is difficult to provide a consistent color to compound mixed with fillers because the fillers act like white pigments due to total reflection. The compound used for breast prosthesis, cannot be dyed in glazing colors, which would be useful, but instead has to be dyed in covering colors, which leads the unfavorable appearance of the breast prosthesis.